Volkswagen Falcon 8X D-AGBA lands at Dulles after 8h 10m flight

Volkswagen's Dassault Falcon 8X, tail number D-AGBA, landed at Washington Dulles International Airport (KIAD) on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 00:39 UTC. The flight departed Leeuwarden Air Base (EHLW) in the Netherlands at 16:29 UTC and took 8 hours and 10 minutes. The aircraft covered a great-circle distance of 3,364 nautical miles, or 3,871 miles. It flew at an average ground speed of 412 knots and reached a top speed of 491 knots. The highest altitude seen during the flight was 43,025 feet.

The Falcon 8X is an ultra long range jet built by Dassault, with a range of 6,450 nautical miles and a ceiling of 51,000 feet. It typically seats 12 passengers and can carry up to 16. This flight used about 52 percent of the aircraft's range. According to celebplanes estimates, the flight burned about 2,288 US gallons of fuel and produced about 22.0 metric tons of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 54,397 miles. The aircraft has been in service since 2016.

This was the second landing at Dulles by Volkswagen's aircraft in the tracked window. The previous landing at Dulles was on October 20, 2026, just one day before this flight, also by D-AGBA. Volkswagen's home base is Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport (EDVE) in Germany. Usual destinations include Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, Zurich, Palma de Mallorca, and Nice. In the 30 days before this flight, Volkswagen's two aircraft made 13 flights, spent 43.9 hours in the air, and covered about 18,973 nautical miles. Other tracked aircraft at Dulles in the 24 hours before this landing included Michael Saylor's Bombardier Global Express, which landed about 23 hours earlier, Nestle's Gulfstream G500, about 10 hours earlier, and State Farm's Dassault Falcon 50EX, about 6 hours earlier.

Volkswagen AG is a German automotive group headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The company operates Volkswagen AirService, a wholly-owned corporate airline based at Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport. The fleet includes eight private aircraft: two Falcon 8X, four Falcon 7X, and two Pilatus PC-24, operating under the callsign 'Beetle.' Volkswagen AirService completes about 2,800 flights annually, with two-thirds carrying VW employees to the group's 118 global locations and one-third serving charter clients. The airline connects Wolfsburg with other VW Group sites, including Audi in Ingolstadt, Porsche in Stuttgart, SEAT in Barcelona, and Skoda in Mladá Boleslav. The airport is a major shareholder in Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport, which serves exclusively business aviation.

Washington Dulles is a major international gateway, and Volkswagen has a significant presence in the United States through its American operations. A web search found no specific public event or meeting tied to Volkswagen at Dulles on this date. Volkswagen is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers, with a global network of production and sales operations.

The flight from Leeuwarden, a Dutch air base, to Dulles adds to a busy week for Volkswagen's fleet. The aircraft had landed at Braunschweig about 12 hours before this departure, following a flight from Dulles on October 20. If Volkswagen was aboard, this trip would mark a quick turnaround across the Atlantic.